Wednesday, May 8, 2013

Chris Perez Is The Mayor Of Savingsville!

Sorry for the commercialization of tonight's title, but I hear so many of those darn Progressive commercials on the radio that I decided I needed to start putting them to work for me! Now, if you've never heard the Progressive radio spots this year then you are both lucky and confused. In short, Flo sings. She sings 18 times per game and 2 or 3 more times in the postgame. This is why people still pay for cable.

Hey, another win! That's 9 of our last 10, 3 in a row and 10 night games for Meryl Masterson. Streaky streaky streaky! For some reason my first thought after this game was "Wow can we sweep a 4-game series?!" but we'll discuss that later.

Justin Masterson was together today. His end line (7IP/4H/3R/2BB/7SO) with the 3 runs sort of betrays the fact that he only had 2 baserunners, total, in all of his innings excluding the 4th. The 4th is where things went haywire and guys got hits, there was a wild pitch and Masterson even hit a guy. Oops! But it says a lot about him that he came back in and shut them down over 3 more innings. Says a lot that they'd even let him come back! So, well done, Ace!

Since Vinnie's out, we got treated to the Smith & Perez show after that. Smith gave up a lead-off single and I sort of shifted uncomfortably in my seat because Joe Smith is suddenly in the habit of giving up hits. But, never fear - he struck out the next two and got the last guy to pop out!

Chris Perez was once again the star of the show. The closer of the close game. First he struck out a guy. Then he gets a guy to ground out. I was joking with my friend that he needs to give up a hit yet, because that's how Perez do, and then I was all "NO! Not that kind of hit!" as the ball sailed up and...out? Nope! The umpire called it a double. The call went to review and it stood! IT STOOD! Even Tom Hamilton said it was wrong. The MLB didn't put it online because they probably know it was wrong. (They put it up. Oops!) The A's manager was ejected. ha-ha.

Perez wasn't done...he hit a guy (!) and then walked a guy and the bases were loaded, with the Tribe only up by one. Holy hell! The final guy hit one to the right side of the mound. Perez picked it up himself then chug-chug-chugged over to first with the ball to touch the bag, because he probably felt that after that performance he probably couldn't count on a throw making it to first. Good call!

Like a beardy gazelle!

Oh and after all that he got the save. He did actually get out of this mess on his own accord tonight, unlike last night where he needed the help of Yan. But boy - did he ever put on a show!

Michael Brantley only got 1 of the team's 4 runs, but I'll call him the player of the game. Because while everyone else was sort of stunned at the plate or not able to put enough power in it to combat the wind blowing in, Brantley managed to go 2 for 4 with an RBI and a stolen base! His RBI actually was not on one of his hits - he got on base with an error and a run scored. With bases loaded and 1 out, he hit into what was about to be a double play but the second baseman muffed the throw to first and Brantley was safe. He also just sort of watched the first baseman scramble after the ball instead of trying to beat it over to second, which is the right move. He just made it look extra smooth.

Kipnis and Asdrubal didn't do anything today. Asdrubal was nicknamed "Abra Cabrera" last night in @FrankHermann56's #TribeNames contest. (The winner was The Yanimal. I like!). Although I guess Asdrubal had a stunning leaping play that the MLB didn't see fit to give us video of.

Nick Swisher was back to having fun tonight! He hit a solo home run to tie the game at 3! They play the OSU Fight Song when he hits a home run, which is pretty cool. He also does the "O-H" on his way into the dugout, so be prepared if you're ever sitting behind the dugout to respond in kind!

When Carlos Santana followed up Swisher's homer with a solo, go-ahead homer of his own (Mark Reynolds was between them - not hitting a home run! Huh!), Swisher did a little dance. I can't embed the video but I can show you an approximation:

Santana and Raburn led the 5th off with walks. Chisenhall, who was sent away to work on his hitting, was back and up next. Good things should happen! He did get a hit but it was like a little squib infield hit. But, hey - now the bases were loaded. Stubbs got on base by a fielder's choice and the bases were still loaded when Brantley induced the error and the Tribe scored two! So, however they're giving runs today, we're taking them, by golly.

Stubbs got a single, too, which is great cuz dude hasn't had a hit yet this series. And you know I expect way more from him!

So really it turns out we won this game by the skin of our teeth. Masterson DID look good but our bats were not that great. Two homers were nice but the other two runs came by chance. And the tying run didn't score in the 9th by chance. But if chance is all we've got, we'll take it!

So do you think we can sweep the 4-game series? We've got momentum, and we've got the fact that we're facing another Cy Young Award winner in our favor. However we're under .500 on day games. Kazmir was pretty great his last start - can he do it again? And will our bats wake up already?! Two home runs is not enough! (Haha look at me complaining about lack of home runs!)

Even though Meryl doesn't count for day games, she's coming along anyway. She did win a day game last week, so it doesn't hurt!

Afternoon delight cookies!

By the way, did you read the the bullpen cop, AKA the Tootsie Roll Cop (officer Jeff Stanczyk) is retiring? I don't know him from the visitor's bullpen (never really sat over there) but I've been the recipient of his candy a couple times in the bleachers! Sad to see a regular like that go. I hope he takes the time to enjoy some games out of uniform!

All right so tomorrow's game is 12:05. Don't forget! Bring your BROOMS!

Radio Chatter:
"You look at that beard and you think 'Grizzly Adams'."
- Tom Hamilton on Daric Barton